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UK: Iran, Country of Concern

UK Foreign & Commonwealth office issued a corporate report on 12, March, 2015 on Iran’s human rights record. It said that Iran’s human rights record remained cause for great concern in 2014. Despite Rouhani’s pledge to support greater social equality and justice for all Iranians, there was little or no change in practice, and much more needs to be done to ensure all Iranians enjoy the rights and freedoms to which they are entitled. There was a marked increase in the number of executions over the past year, and Iran continued to have the highest rate of executions per capita in the world, according to UN figures, and the second highest number of journalists in prison in the world. Dissent was not widely tolerated, and the majority of newspapers, TV and radio in Iran remained government controlled. Access to the internet and social media was heavily restricted. Cyber activists, internet experts, bloggers and activists are routinely arrested and detained.
Women continued to suffer discrimination, and there was continued persecution of religious and ethnic minorities. The UK raised concerns at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva about the increased use of the death penalty, and restrictions on freedom of religion or belief; freedom of expression; due process, such as access to a lawyer; and women’s rights. The UK also tabled two recommendations which would make an important contribution to improving Iran’s approach to human rights: an immediate moratorium on the execution of juveniles and those who have committed crimes not recognized as “most serious”; and allowing detainees access to a lawyer at all stages of pre-trial detention. Iran is expected to respond to these recommendations before the next HRC in March 2015.
The UK also lobbied successfully for the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, at the HRC in March.



Access to Justice and the Rule of Law


There was little or no improvement in access to justice or the rule of law in Iran during 2014. While the Iranian government noted that the constitution safeguards the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, there were allegations and reports of influence over judges. According to the UN Special Rapporteur, the Special Assistant to the President for Ethnic and Religious Minority Affairs said in February that “we have witnessed the security apparatus, from the position of strength, putting the judge under pressure to steer the trial in the direction they want”.
The UN reported that many lawyers believed that judges made their decisions almost exclusively on the basis of reports submitted by the arresting and investigating officials, and rarely considered evidence offered by the defence. One highprofile example of this in 2014 was the trial of 26-year-old Iranian woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari, who was found guilty of the murder of a former intelligence officer who was trying to sexually assault her. According to Amnesty International, Ms Jabbari’s claims that there was a second man present at the time of the assault and murder were not fully investigated. Ms Jabbari was executed on 25 October, to much public outcry.


 

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